Max O’Dowd faces abuse for dropping Pakistan’s Faheem Ashraf: ‘It seems Indian fans were angrier than Dutch supporters’

O’Dowd was gutted to have let his team down and let go the opportunity for a monumental upset, but his social media timeline gave the impression that there were others more upset than he could ever be.

There was huge activity on his Instagram and other social media profiles, with some comments – most of them presumably from India supporters – being of a personal and abusive nature.

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Responses like ‘Netherlands ka Hassan Ali’, Bro you’re professional player, how you can drop that easiest catch?’ and ‘Bhai pakad lete catch bikhari pehle din hi bahar ho jaate’ were some of the more printable ones.

The player in the centre of the incident was taken aback though he understood where all this was coming from.

“Some of the comments were quite harsh, something that should never be said to anyone,” O’Dowd told The Indian Express after a training session for the Netherlands’ second game against Namibia here on Tuesday.

“It seems that Indian fans were angrier with me than the Dutch supporters,” he added cheekily.

While the India-Pakistan cricket rivalry is quite intense at the best of times, recent events on and off the field – with teams refusing to shake hands and Pakistan threatening to boycott the upcoming match against India, in apparent solidarity with Bangladesh who were replaced in the tournament after they refused to travel to India – have provided an added edge.

Moving on

While the disappointment at being unable to finish the job against Pakistan was palpable, the New Zealand-born batsman, whose father Alexander played for Auckland and Northern Districts, stressed that he and his teammates had put it behind them.

Netherlands batter Max O’Dowd in action. (PHOTO: Netherlands Cricket)

“We had a chat about things after the game, not just that catch. We could have done a lot of things better. We thought we were a bit short with the bat as well,” O’Dowd said.

The 31-year-old had the backing of his team, all-rounder Colin Ackermann said.

“Max is good. There were obviously many other moments in the game where we could have done better. If we look at the last five overs of our batting, if we had added another 15–20 runs, that could have been the difference. There are 240 moments in a T20 game, so we need to be better in those other moments as well,” the 34-year-old of South African lineage said.

Both players said there were no extra fielding drills, especially catching skiers in the outfield after the costly lapse.

“I have taken such catches a thousand times. It’s just that I dropped that one and we lost the match,” O’Dowd said. “So, no additional practice.”

Ackermann, who has played for Durham in English domestic cricket as well as in The Hundred and the SA20, said the team was looking ahead to the upcoming assignments.

“When we got off the bus in Delhi, coach Ryan Cook said the past is the past — there’s nothing we can do about it — and we must look forward to the next game against Namibia.”